Mako and Bolin, the Fire Ferrets, represented by @mrblackdragon, Versus Mai and Ty Lee, Ozai's Angels, represented by yours truly.
CaV Rules.
This is a "Challenge A Viner" thread; only MrDragon and I are allowed to debate.
If you wish to vote at the end of the thread, say "T4V". If you wish to be notified whenever a new post is up, say "TAEP".
Vote for whomever made the better arguments, or convinced you their side would win. Do provide reasoning with your vote, and do not vote based on which team you personally believe would win.
Commentary within reason is obviously fine, but please do not derail this thread with off-topic discussions.
Whichever the case, be civil and respectful towards everyone. There is no reason to get upset over fiction.
Battles Rules.
Most recent versions of each character at full health: Mako and Bolin as of Ruins of the Empire III, Mai and Ty Lee as of Smoke and Shadow III.
Morals Off / IC.
Basic Knowledge; the brothers know they are dealing with two dangerous warriors who specialize in shurikenjutsu and chi blocking respectively. The girls are aware they are dealing with a skilled firebender, and an earth and lavabender.
Mai is fully geared up. Ty Lee, however, is off-duty, and is therefore in her usual Fire Nation attire. Mako and Bolin are in their usual street clothes as well.
Win by incapacitation, K.O. or death.
The battle takes place in a valley deep inside the Earth Kingdom -- pictured below.
Time is noon, starting Distance 60 ft.
Princess Azula is throwing hands with Avatar Korra elsewhere, but when her elite team takes on Team Avatar's Fire Ferrets, who will prevail?
Mako and Bolin are brothers who once were raised on the streets of the Republic City Hustle. Mako and Bolin Both of the brothers were orphans at that time. Mako and Bolin are the sons of an Earth kingdom father, San and the Fire Nation Mother, Naoki. When Mako was just 8 years old; he witnessed his parents killed by an unknown Fire-bender, leaving him to take care of his 7 year old Brother Bolin. During their time on the streets on Republic City, Mako and Bolin would take part of the criminal underworld of Republic City. Doing odd criminal objectives for the triads throughout Republic City. However their lives began to change when Mako wanted a positive life, when Mako wanted a legal life, rather than living in poverty for the rest of himself and his brother's life. Overtime, Mako and Bolin would abandoned their petty crime ways, and join The Pro-Bending League at the age of 15 (Mako) and 14 (Bolin). This helped the Brother duo for not only on abandoning poverty, but to also increase their bending techniques. 3 years later on, they would meet Avatar, Korra during their match. Together, they form Team Avatar, along with Asami. Together, they would face off powerful villain's/bad organizations in The Legend of Korra; such as Amon, Unalaq, Vattu, The Red Lotus(Pl'i, Ghazan, Ming-Hua, and Zaheer) , Kuvira, and so much more after the defeat of Korra.
Mako's Fighting style : Mako fight's on the Front Lines!
Mako fights on the front lines.
I would like to first go over Mako. I will go over every fighting ability that Mako's has performed. (That of course including; Speed, Reaction Speed, Agility, Durability, Physical Combat/ Martial Arts, Weapon Advantage, Combat Speed, Bending Scale, Bending Potency, Bending Skill, Bending Launch, Bending Control, Combat strategy/ Battle Intelligence, and Environmental Awareness). I will list them in a choreographic order from Beginning of the series towards the current chapter of "Ruins of the Empire III."
🔥Mako's Firebending, Pyrokinesis (The ability to manipulate and bend fire). 🔥
Attack Power (Destructive Capability, Bending Potency, Bending Skill, Bending Launch, and Bending Control)
During his carrier as the Pro-Bending Champion, Republic City Police Officer, and King Wu's bodyguard; it is safe to assume that Mako is indeed great at Firebending. When it comes to Mako, he has displayed a wide variety of Firebending skills and techniques.
Bending Launch
During his time as a pro bender, Mako was able to push back a player with his Firebending strike launch during his match against his opponents on the ring. He managed to push back the opponent far away from the rang with ease, all the way at the end of the ring with his Firebending launch technique. He was able to use Firebending to evaporate the water shield, while the opponent attempted to block the fire thrown to him, but failed. He performed this feat in The Legend of Korra: A Leaf in the Wind.
Later on during season 1, Mako was able to push back one of the Equalist members (2 members) all the way at the end of the stage with ease with no difficulty. This also displays that Mako can dodge the Equalists ropes when he began to spin and release a Firebending launch at the Equalist members. Not only that, Mako was hovering while running on the wall.
Later on in Season 2 of Korra, Mako became a republic city officer patrolling the city. He was able to overpower another Firebender and manage to push him back just a little. Not like the previous one's in Season 1. However he was able to launch multiple fire streams at the Firebending thug.
In the next episode after the escape of the thug, Mako tracked down the thugs on the runaway ship. Mako was able to not only launch one fire blast (Not straight through), but also overpowered at least 4 thugs on the ship with ease.
Later on Season 3, When covering for Korra to escape to Zhao Fu, Mako was able to push back Ming-Hua at the side of the hotel.
He then overpowered Ghazan's earth shield once in the caverns, and managed to push him back with his firebending.
Later on in the comics, Mako pushed back a soldier in the comics "Ruins of the Empire II."
He then attacks Kuvira, and dodged a desk thrown at him and Bolin.
Destructive Capability
In terms of Destructive Capability, Mako has shown to be good at Destroying large objects with his firebending. Mako may not be a top bender or an elite Firebender like other master of Firebenders such as Azula, Zuko, Iroh, Ozai, Iroh, and Jeong Jeong, he has displayed but when he gets serious he has plenty of respectable feats of raw strength.Mako was able to destroy several stone disks thrown towards him with ease and was able to push back the Earth bender at the edge of the ring. He also destroyed shielded earth plates with ease.
Mako has shown to make explosions with his Firebending Technique, when he was launching firepower at the Northern place.
Managed to overheat the Truck engine with ease, making the Truck to stop and to flip over. All of this while firebending.
He was able to overpower Ghazan's Lava bending blast while he was hiding behind the metal shield. He also overpowered Ming-hua's waterbending attack.
Later on in The Venom of the Red Lotus (Book 3: Change), Mako was able to vape Ming Hua's Water arms. He even managed to push back Ming Hua.
He then join up with Bolin to Defeat Ghazan. He then overpowers Ghazans Earthbending Shields twice.
Bending Potency, Bending Skill, and Bending Control
While Mako isn't at the proficient level of Azula, or Zuko's skills of controlling Firebending, he has shown to be at least good at these 3 categories. First, Mako was able to control a fire explosion with ease. This was his way on controlling the fire explosion defensively without anyone being harmed by the fire explosion. To me it's not that impressive. However, I can't really determine on how big is the explosion.
He was able to use this same move during the comics; when a fire explosion was about to Kill Lin Beifong and Bolin, during an investigation. He was able to control the huge fire explosion with no difficulty. This proves that later on, he was able to improve defensively.
Mako was able to surround Unalaq's troops with his large quantity of Firebending on the ground. Which is kind of an impressive Bending Skill on his part.
Next, he utilize his Firebending to create Firebending Shields when Ming Hua strike him. Not impressive. There is not much to say about Mako's defense or his creativity with his Firebending.
Mako can send out Fire at a long range distance when Amon/Noatok escaped from the arena.
He also displayed that he can fly with his Firebending, not at the level of Azula's flying with Firebending. He displayed this feat during the end of season 4 of Korra. However, he never used this move that much during the series or in the following Korra Comics.
⚡Mako's Lightning Bending, Lectrokinesis (The Ability to Manipulate Lightning)⚡
Lightning Ability (Combat Speed and Redirecting Lightning)
Before Bolin and Mako met Korra, Mako was able to learn Lightning Bending just by looking at Zolt. Mako has the ability to manipulate, control, and redirect lightning at will. Mako has a sub-element of his own: Lightning. Mako is the most skilled lightning bender we have seen in Avatar, demonstrating full mastery of techniques such as instant lightning generation as well as lightning redirection. Mako has repeatedly shown the ability to generate lightning instantly, without the charging time Azula often needed in A:TLA. Since he can indeed react to lightning, his reaction speed should be at least of the level's of Zuko's reaction speed, in which case dodge lightning point blank.
*I think it's very important to note, that Mako uses this technique as a last resort, just in case Firebending isn't enough to finish the opponent.* In other words, he wouldn't use Lightning bending right off the bat. It wouldn't be in character to use that Technique right away.*
Combat Speed: Lightning Strike
Mako has repeatedly shown the ability to generate lightning instantly. This lightning attack should be considered as Attack speed, due to the Lightning bending strike having to reach Massively Hypersonic Speeds. Well, It's because it's natural lightning. Mako being able to stop the Equalist Members from escaping
Next, Mako was able to not only stop the driver, but also override the Truck's systems, in order to stop the Equalists from getting away.
He was then able to make Amon dodge the lightning strike at point blank, while Amon was giving his Equalist Objective Speech.
Mako has shown that he was capable to Redirect continuous circuit with a spiritual energy source, though downed by an errant bolt.
Mako has also shown the valuable ability to redirect lightning. This could allow him to use it at will, however it isn't the same performance as Zuko's or Azula's.
Mako's Hand To Hand Combat , Physical Contact, and Reaction Speed
Mako didn't participate in many H2H fights either but from the ones he did take part in we can learn of one powerful move Mako favors using when he gets into melee range: the throw. Mako's throw is extremely powerful, sending grown flying with little effort. He was able to throw an equalist across the stage.
He was able to dodge most the metal benders attack and made a counterattack against the Metal Bender with no difficulty. He dodges all of the Metal benders attacks. He then outfights the Metal Bender with no difficulty by slamming him onto the ground.
Mako was so fast that he made an escaped kid off guard, across the Earth Blockage at an ally so fast. Even surprised the kid.
Gallery
Mako was able to dodge several attacks from probenders. Dodging a fire and water blast at normal reaction speeds.
He dodge the Dai Li's attacks with ease.
He was even able to fight one of the republic city crooks at close combat.
Reacted to most of Ming Hua's attacks.
Durability
Now there isn't much to say about Mako's Durability. As he kind of has insufficient feats of durability. Mako took a sword swing from Tokuga. Then begins to get up after the slam from the ground.
Gallery
Despite not stopping Ming Hua during his first encounter, he was able to tank a broken door with no wound or injury. However it knocks Mako out cold.
Then was able to tank Pl'i's explosion and manage to fight the red lotus.
Then was able to tank a hit from the spirit's tail.
🧠Mako's Cleverness (Combat strategy/ Battle Intelligence, and Environmental Awareness)🧠
Mako has shown several times that he was indeed clever during battle with his opponents. Mako is a Republic City Investigator Officer, and has gained experience during his encounters. He develops his awareness when he was living at the streets of republic. Because of this, it makes him develop strategies during his encounters very perceptively.
He was able to hit Amon with his lightning bending, pretending that he can't move a centimeter while he was paralyzed by Amon's forbidden bending, Bloodbending. He made Amon to let his guard down and manages Amon to get close, so Mako can surprise him. However, Mako's lightning bending did not one shot Amon easily. It stun him. However it proves that Mako is indeed clever. Since he wasn't able to use Firebending, he was forced to use his last resort, his sub-bending technique. This of course worked and Mako was able to save Korra during this scene as well.
Next he was adaptive on the environment he was in. However, this is only for when he lands on water. He was able to use the Red Lotus's caves water to his sub-bending advantage. Because of this, he was able to kill/knock out Ming Hua with ease thanks to his adaptivity and quick cleverness.
Bolin's Fighting Spirit: Bolin charges onto the Battlefield!
Grew up on the republic city streets as an orphan with his brother Mako, joined the criminal underworld of Republic City. He even become one of the top Professional bending athlete, and even became an actor. Bolin has done it all during his time in Republic City. Bolin has grown from a skilled but somewhat a somewhat-clueless pro-bender to a battle-hardened powerhouse Earthbender (Besides Toph).
🗿Bolin's Earthbending, Geokinesis (The Ability to manipulate the element Earth)🗿
Attack Power (Attack, Agility, Awareness, and Mobility)
During his years in Pro-bending, Bolin proved that he is the top Earthbender in his Pro-Bending career. As a pro-bender; he learned to incorporate his agility into his Earthbending during The Legend Of Korra and further on during the comics, after the events of Kuvira's destruction against Republic City. Personally, I feel as if Bolin's agility is kind of Underrated along with his Firepower. For instance, Bolin was able to fight at least 3 water benders with good reaction and mobility. He was able to react to Waterbending attacks and was able to counterstrike by using 3 earth plates. He was able to knock over the Waterbender out of where President Raigo was supposed to be kidnapped.
Gallery
In the second scan, we see him pushing off the Waterbender with such attack power and fighting 3 waterbenders.
He shown to attack the Equalists motorcycle with just by shooting peddles, Thanks to all of his skills during his training as a probender. Personally, I think these might be the same peddle size that one of them, even hit Pli's forehead by preventing her to combustionbend.
Later on in season 4 of Korra, nothing much has changed with Bolin's earthbending. But he as able to knockover 3 earthbenders who once worked with Kuvira while being handcuffed.
Bolin can also tell if his opponents are approaching at the back. For example, he was able to Earthbend and push back Desna and Eska without looking at the back. This also lets us know that Bolin can manipulate the environment around him to gain an advantage over his enemies with success.
He even lifted up a collapsed wall while struggling. However this was temporarily.
🌋Bolin's Lavabending skill🌋
Lavabending is a rare sub-bending skill that we seen so far in the Avatar Franchise. It is a technique that is possible to guaranteed to kill if it lands on it's target instantly. And based on the rules "Morals off". What makes this technique dangerous is that the more lava there is the less options there are for the opponent. Lavabending is in fact, no joke. It could easily kill anyone on who will make contact with it. In fact. Example: Had Bolin not learn to trust his instincts on bending lava in the Air Temple, he wouldn't be alive nor would Asami, Mako, and Tenzin would live. It was at this point, Bolin was able to manipulate and control Lava with ease. He was able to stop a chunk of Lava. It was at this moment, Bolin would finally found out his bending potential.
We then see Bolin use lavabending against Ghazan while Bolin was still inexperienced because he's just knows he can bend lava. Yet he managed to push back most of Ghazan's lava attacks. Also Ghazan was stated to be very creative/crafty with this element.
Bolin then was able to stop 2 Kuvira mini mech armors.
Scan 2 shows that Bolin was able to melt the wall. By this season, He was able to control the element just like Ghazan
Gallery
Later on, Bolin was able to use lavabending as a Shuriken like lava when he was infiltrating the Kuvira ship. He was able to cut metal with it.
Gallery
He then uses this technique during the comics. Bolin's lava bending in general is very useful against metal swords.
Bolin Physically (Durability, Hand to Hand Combat, and Reaction Speed)
If I really have to be honest with Bolin's durability, it would be that Bolin can take a hit if necessary, he will be defending with powerful walls and evading attacks to be honest. He was able to resist a water attack from behind, and was okay.
Bolin was shocked by a lightning stream, but manage to get up no problem.
Was able to tug and kick Ghazan.
In Hand to Hand, the benders countered each other's earth disks at such close range, then Bolin avoids a swift knee to the face. It's because of feats like this is why Bolin won't be easily beaten in close combat.
Now, I don't know if this is considered a feat or an outlier because Bolin dodged lightning at point blank by one of Kuvira's bot.
♙Mako and Bolin's Teamwork! The Battle Play Counter!♟
Mako and Bolin's power of teamwork!
Mako and Bolin in no doubt are even better when they are fighting together. Because of this, they were able to take on the likes of highly skilled Benders in Korra. They were able to fight off Base Unalaq without Unalaq being amplified by the evil entity Vattu and overwhelm a skilled Earthbender, Ghazan with ease. However, the teammate that improve most throughout the series is Bolin. This is because Bolin unlocked his potential as a bender, when he first bend lava, and later on utilized the bending almost similar to Ghazan's creativity.
Mako and Bolin overwhelmed the Dai Li during the Airbenders rescue from the Earth Queen.
With Mako's quick firebending attacks and quick fighting strategy to keep opponents off balance and Bolin's solid defense, with offensive attacks at key moments, they're an excellent combo capable of taking on Unalaq with moderate difficulty.
However they were a bit overwhelmed during the second encounter.
Later on, the duo overwhelmed Ghazan with ease. Ghazan being on of the strongest Red Lotus member.
How the Battle will play out
📜📖Reviewing the Rules first📖📜
Now before I get into the possibilities on this analysis and my reasoning on who wins, I will have to read and review the rules that ANTHP2000 has made clear, before I say anything else.
"Most recent versions of each character at full health: Mako and Bolin as of Ruins of the Empire III, Mai and Ty Lee as of Smoke and Shadow III."
Now that I reviewed every feat that Mako and Bolin has displayed during the series and comics, I will use the current versions of Mako and Bolin in order to proceed to the analysis. I will only use the comic feats provided on "Ruins of the Empire." And a bit of feats from season 4 to strengthen my arguments.
"Time is noon, starting Distance 60 ft."
And since this is starting at 60ft, I fully understand that both opponents start at 60ft apart.
"Basic Knowledge; the brothers know they are dealing with two dangerous warriors who specialize in shurikenjutsu and chi blocking respectively. The girls are aware they are dealing with a skilled firebender, and an earth and lavabender."
I fully understand that both have basic knowledge on one another.
⚔️🥊The Battle Analysis.The Battle Begins!💥🛡
Bolin wouldn't go for the kill instantly as it would be out of character for Bolin. So personally, he wouldn't use Lavabending right off the bat. Same thing with Mako using Lightningbending. Mako uses Lightningbending as a last resort, just in case his Firebending isn't enough to finish the opponent. Even if Bolin doesn't go for the kill immediately (which he probably won't) he can use lava to restrict Ty Lee's and Mai's movement, forcing the female duo into certain areas, etc. Since, the battle starts at 60 ft apart, I can see Bolin and Mako taking the advantage in long rang combat. I don't see how the brothers lose to her. They will know she is only dangerous up close and keep her away from them. And Bolin has just the thing to do that in the form of lava bending. And based on the location, this will give Bolin the environmental advantage to bend more lava and earth. Even if Mai has the ability to throw at a long range, Bolin can easily dodge and block most of the daggers.
Since the battle starts at 60ft apart, Bolin would have no problem breaking Mai's daggers because he has the ability to utilize lava into a lava shuriken. It was so hot that it was able to cut metal blades. So personally, Mai's daggers won't land a hit.
Here is Bolin cutting blades.
Another thing is that if the duo manage to hit them at close range, Bolin would be able to trap them like what he did to these Earthbending soldiers at near high speeds and it would be checkmate.
For Mako, if his Firebending doesn't reach them at a far distance, he has the option to use Lightning bending to stun one of the Female duo at a long range distance.
The only Issue I see with Mako and Bolin is if they were to fight in close combat/hand to hand combat. This is because Ty Lee and Mai has shown reputedly in the series that indeed can give benders a lot of trouble with not only with excellent agility, but in speed and reflexes and the ability to block a persons bending chi. And I don't mean to lowball on Mako, but he has struggled against Chi-Blockers before. Ty-lee managed to make Azula off guard and was able to paralyze her temporarily. For Mai would be a problem, because she has fast Draw speed due to showings on throwing with daggers and her shurikenjutsu technique. If Mako and Bolin keep their distance, they wouldn't have no problem winning.
Personally, Mako and Bolin have great Teamwork advantage. Again, They were able to overwhelm Ghazan, fought and hold off against Base Unalaq, and Most of the Dai li' simultaneously. So I think they would be given the advantage here.
My Conclusion
Mako and Bolin would be able to keep their distance and cover the pathways by Bolin's Lavabending, in order to prevent the female duo to get too close.
Mako would be able to use Lightningbending to give him the win.
Bolin and Mako would be able to block most of Mai's daggers with Bolins shield, reaction speed, and reflexes.
Their teamwork would best than Mai and Ty-Lee's teamwork, due to having more experience with dangerous Benders during the Series and comics.
Bolin would be able to trap them in Earthbending, if Ty-Lee and Mai would be caught off guard.
Thank you for reading this post and hope you enjoyed it! :D
"If I want to catch my prey I must be agile, nimble. I need a small elite team. It's time to visit some old friends."
Mai and Ty Lee grew up as part of the noble, upper Fire Nation class. At an early age, they became friends with Princess Azula and Prince Zuko while studying in the Royal Fire Academy. Growing up, they took their separate ways; Mai followed her family in her father's political career, and Ty Lee joined the circus. Soon enough, however, Princess Azula tracked them down and recruited them as her personal team to hunt down the Avatar. Even though they're not benders, they were treated as equally as dangerous throughout the journeys, due to their practically superhuman skill in very unorthodox, for the time, martial arts. Mai and Ty Lee betrayed Azula by the end of the Hundred Year War, and Mai went on to become Firelord Zuko's partner, while Ty Lee joined the Kyoshi Warriors.
I. Mai.
Equipment.
=> Robes
Mai's robes are not simply a tribute to her dark personality, but also a means for her to make best use of her skills. All her ammo is concealed inside her clothing, to add in more of a surprise factor against opponents.
=> Knives
The primary piece of ammo she carries consists of knives, of various shapes and sizes, which she throws using her bare hands. The speed with which Mai projects them is great enough for them to not only forcefully launch grown men backwards at high speeds, but also penetrate thick metal described as "the most up-to-date" and "indestructible" [1] (Book 3: The Boiling Rock II), and earth, controlled by Toph Beifong no less [2] (Book 2: The Crossroads of Destiny).
=> Spring-loaded Dart Shooters
Each one of Mai's four limbs stores a spring-loaded shooter holding 10 darts, which she can shoot at will without movement. The velocity of these darts shot is still greater than that of the average arrow, penetrating large chunks of earth [3] (Book 2: The Chase), but not quite as fast as her knives; this can be seen with direct comparisons, where her darts fail to pierce through steel [4] (Book 2: Journey to Ba Sing Se II: The Drill), and are not fast enough that the Kyoshi Warriors cannot react to them shot [6], as opposed to her throwing knife assaults [7] (Book 2: Appa's Lost Days). They do serve other important purposes we will go through below, however.
Strong Ranged Offensive: Speed.
In one of Mai's first fight scenes in the show, she took on Katara in Omashu, who had a skin of water to defend herself at the time. This is also the first time we truly see Katara fight as a master waterbender after training with Master Pakku, and everything she pulls off is impressive, including the speed with which she is controlling her water. Essentially, to fight evenly with her, Mai was dodging constant attacks from Katara's water whip, the technique that, in the very same sequence, was demonstrably as fast as Mai's own projectiles.
Book 2: Return to Omashu
Keeping in mind that the projectile speed behind Mai's knives and darts is considerably higher to that of arrows and conventional bending projectiles, it is a good testament to Mai's reactions in a ranged fight. One more thing I want to note here, however, is the unique style of Mai's shurikenjutsu; one main principle in martial arts is that no movements should go to waste. The more the fighter combines offence and defence, the better. With the darts stored on her limbs, Mai does that in the best of ways. As she stretches her body to evade incoming attacks, her legs launch high speed attacks at the opponent, both catching them off guard, and potentially hitting them before they can recover from attacking themselves. She frequently uses her darts that way [8] (Book 2: The Chase).
Mai's draw speed has been described by the writers as a skill Azula herself, a firebending master, did not possess.
"When we were coming up with Azula, we decided we wanted to have these two friends with her. We didn't want them to be firebenders. They wouldn't be as good as her, so why would she keep these other, lesser, firebenders around? So we decided that she would have basically picked out two people who had certain skills that she did not have. Ty Lee with her acrobatics and Mai with her super pin-point accuracy and quick draw skills."
Michael Dante DiMartino, ("An Avatar Spring Break with Mike and Bryan")
A non-bender being quicker on the draw than any firebender, individuals who use their own breath to channel attacks from their hands and feet, is impressive enough. When compared to Azula, it is even more impressive. This leads to high rapid firing, which we saw from Mai when she assissted Zuko and the Kyoshi Warriors against the New Ozai Society, ex-members of the military still loyal to Ozai after the War. Throughout this fight, Mai disarmed a number of soldiers, and incapacitated the man armed with tech that overwhelmed Suki and Zuko, but most impressive of all:
Smoke and Shadow I
We see Mai throwing 4 of her knives one after the other, and they appear to be in extremely close proximity with one another, as if she threw them all simultaneously. We know that this is not the case, however, as we see 4 separate sound bubbles ("FWT") each one signifying the sound of her draw and throw. It is this kind of speed, combined with Mai's ability to throw numerous knives in one shot, that results to this volume [9] (Book 2: Journey to Ba Sing Se: The Drill), where one dozen knives are thrown almost simultaneously, covering a great area of effect.
Shurikenjutsu: Skill.
This martial art involves a wide variety of techniques for throwing, each one suited for different ranges and purposes. According to Mai, the technicality is all in the wrist.
The Lost Adventures: Going Home Again
Throwing the knife is one thing, however. Doing so with Mai's precision is another; an impressive demonstration of her pinpoint accuracy was her second encounter with Katara [10] (Book 2: The Chase), when she pinned her armbands on a tree before she could raise a wave from the river nearby to fight back. This is impressive both because of the size of the object Mai hit with the knives - Katara's armbands surfacing merely half an inch above skin level - but also because Katara was moving her arms in a non-telegraphed manner to bend the water.
Similarly, Mai was skilled enough to simultaneously disarm 4 warriors of the New Ozai Society charging at her, while dodging a fire blast from a fifth member:
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Rebound
She threw 4 darts, one cutting a spear in half, the other three disarming the targets without touching flesh. All these people were moving towards her from different angles, at different speeds, wielding different types of weapons, and she still landed these pitch-perfect shots all at once, while evading a firebender's attack. This level of throwing accuracy is not just great, it is absolutely impossible. But Mai has even more tricks up her sleeve (pun very much intented).
Book 2: Return to Omashu
The first time we see Mai, she encounters Aang, and immediately attacks him thinking he's part of the resistence in Omashu. Raising her arms, the automatic shooters project 13 arrows right on target. The nature of this technique virtually means that Mai's rapid firing with her arrows is even greater than that with her throwing knives, with each of the darts shot almost simultaneously, but not quite [10]. Once Aang evades the shot, Mai scales the building and comes in closer. Aang quickly takes down the nearby debris to create cover, and separate himself from Mai's line of sight, but it is still not enough to stop her:
Book 2: Return to Omashu
Mai throws her knife in one quick motion, making it spin, hit the wall and ricochet to the other side of the debris, in a what-would-be headshot if Aang wasn't fast enough to react in time. This trickshot is noteworthy for a number of reasons; firstly, the setting of this battle is pitch darkness, which would hinder a lesser marksman. Second, while the debris is collapsing (as fast as any object falling down would, for reference) it forms a cloud of dust all around; Mai had to take the shot through the dust, through the pieces of debris collapsing and hit the exact angle it took for the knife to ricochet. Finally, the knife landed inches from Aang's face, right on target, while he was running away, which means Mai would have to measure and account for her target's new location behind the debris in order for her shot to be on point like that.
Combat Feats.
For Mai's fight scenes that I feel the need to break down, I will first bring up her rescuing Zuko in The Boiling Rock II. The Boiling Rock is the Fire Nation's most high profile prison, holding the most dangerous criminals and war captives, including Zuko himself, son of the Firelord, Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, and Hakoda, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe. Zuko and Sokka attempted to rescue Suki and Hakoda, and in order to escape, they used a gondola to cross the boiling waters. The guards attempted to cut down the line holding the gondola however, which would lead to the demise of Zuko and his allies, thus Mai had to stop them. In a few seconds, she incapacitated over a dozen firebenders in an enclosed space, without killing a single one of them, and she had fun doing it.
With her first shots, she launches the two guards cutting down the line meters away, pinned onto a wall by hitting their sleeves. The second part of the sequence is meant to highlight just how fast, and agile Mai truly is in combat. For the first time we see the speed of her knives directly compared to another projectile, and it is very good; the guard shoots a blast at her, and we see the speed from her perception. She smiles, draws two knives, and only throws them when the blast is inches away from her face - and yet in the time it took for the blast to reach her position from a fraction of the entire distance, her knives have already crossed the whole distance between her and the guard. This is pretty straightforward projectile speed, her knives are at least twice as fast as fire blasts, and conventional arrows.
Immediately after, she slides across the floor, opening distance while ducking behind cover, to safely move towards the other side of the platform. While doing so, she never stops taking pinpoint shots. She finally incapacitates two more guards running towards her simultaneously, again landing shots without hitting flesh on people who are moving their arms up and down, and in a quick movement, she crosses this distance [11], in the time it takes for her knives to cross a few feet - basically a tiny fraction of a second. The lead guard is even stunned by the speed with which she had just moved, right before she incapacitated both her, and the guards behind her, dodging an attack in the process. She is then seen taking out more as Azula and Ty Lee descend towards her location. Also, she performs a flying kick to remove the steel bar from the wire's loops, and have the gondola move again, a good striking feat.
Book 1: The Boy in the Iceberg
Expectedly so, the firebenders are the most effective troops of the Fire Nation's military. They are fast, and agile, and their training involves firebending duels. While Iroh trains Zuko in firebending, we see two of them are capable of keeping up with the Prince, even deflecting his own blasts -- and keep in mind that Zuko got trusted with the weaker parts of the military, whereas the Boiling Rock houses the Nation's finest. All things considered, I think all this makes for a very impressive showcase of Mai's speed, agility, and precision.
The second fight I want to mention in regards to Mai is her latest encounter with Azula in Smoke and Shadow III. Azula disguised herself and her allies as spirits of the Kemurikage, and kidnapped all the infants from the Fire Nation capitol, including Tom Tom, Mai's little brother. Azula and Mai had a brief exchange:
Gallery
After Azula dodged Mai's shot, she closed in and knocked Mai to the ground with a jump kick. As they were reaching the ground, Azula landing on her feet, and Mai recovering from the kick, the latter took a shot at Azula, and she managed to rip her cloak and unmask her; of course she would not actually kill Azula, as she still had the kids, but the point is that she could have killed her if she wanted to.
Now, in fairness to Azula, this does not imply that Mai would beat her in a fight. If Azula was going all out and was not in disguise, she could've used firebending that Mai herself would not have an answer for. But this is not really the point. The point is, due to proper timing, recovery, and draw, Mai could land a successful, pinpoint shot on someone who could time her throwing knives, by abusing the right opening in between Azula kicking her and landing on the ground. And this is an important aspect of any good marksman's ability: simply being quick enough to react to their projectiles and closing in on them does not equate to actually taking them down, or dodging all their attempts.
Outside of Azula's demonstrable ability to dodge a projectile as fast as Mai's knives, she is also a master martial artist [12] (Book 2: The Avatar State), and a flawless acrobat, with agility [13] (Book 3: The Day of Black Sun II: The Eclipse), speed [14], and balance [15] (Book 2: Return to Omashu). She combines these skills to perform feats such as this:
Book 2: Appa's Lost Days
She leaps right above Suki's katana, while in mid-air, she turns her body 180 degrees to disarm her barehanded, knocking the sword on a nearby tree, then gracefully land on her feet while shooting a blast of fire, stopping Suki's punch, and knocking her down with some impressive footwork. Suki herself is an elite warrior trained in the ways of Avatar Kyoshi since she was 8 years old, capable of pulling these moves off [16], [17] (Book 3: The Boiling Rock II), and Azula was good enough to make her look mediocre. The fact that Mai threatened Azula more than anyone else in the Smoke and Shadow arc, and manage to tag her like that, is truly a testament to her efficiency in combat.
II. Ty Lee.
Closing In: Speed. Agility. Balance.
Ty Lee is second to none when it comes to absurd physique. Ever since she was little, she proved Azula's superior in agility contests. She went on to join the circus and become a world-class performer, achieving inhuman feats of flexibility, balance and acrobatics with little effort. In one of her first encounters with the Gaang, Ty Lee and Mai took down Sokka and Katara -- who hadn't slept for a night. Ty Lee was essentially blinding fast for the former.
Book 2: The Chase
And while Sokka was sleep deprived, he still showed speed good enough to deflect Mai's spring arrows out of the air [18] -- I talked about the speed of each of Mai's projectile types in detail in the beginning. Yet he could not even process Ty Lee somersaulting and leaping upwards from a great distance, to the point where he is still standing looking for her in front of him when she's behind his back and has already chi blocked him.
Ty Lee's ability to cross distances in no time has been proven time and again; she quickly paralyzed Katara with an advanced nerve strike, in mid-air, after closing about thirty feet in a fraction of a second [19] (Book 2: The Guru). This is also a good demontration of Ty Lee's skill, mixing in her agility with her chi blocking flawlessly. She can makes 50+ foot high leaps with no added momentum [20] and climb through all sorts of surfaces in no time [21] (Book 2: The Boiling Rock II).
Revisiting the fight scene with Katara and Sokka near the Na Shan River, we see how well Ty Lee can deal with bending attacks. Katara opened with a forceful wave of water that took down Ty Lee's mongoose lizard, but she jumped over it, lept towards the trees around Katara and used them as leverage to safely get close.
Book 2: The Chase
She then dodged her waterbending in close range, a water whip and consecutive water discs, before closing in again. I wanted to focus on this sequence because it's an environment fairly similar to the one in this battle, and it showcases Ty Lee's pseudo-aerial fighting against a bending master well.
Hand-to-Hand Combat: Chi Blocking.
Ty Lee is the first chi blocker we saw in the franchise. Chi blocking, conventionally known as nerve strikes fighting, has the user striking the target's pressure points to achieve devastating effects: temporarily taking away a bender's ability to bend, paralyzing them limb by limb, or instantly knocking them out. This is depending on what parts of the body Ty Lee targets, but in any case, effective pressure points for Ty Lee are practically everywhere in the human body, so she is able to render any bender useless very easily when in range.
Book 2: Appa's Lost Days
Above we see her taking out a Kyoshi Warrior, dodging her katana and dancing around with what might as well be lower end burst speed, and finishing her with a few quick jabs. This is a particularly impressive showcase of Ty Lee's technique, as she hit the woman's pressure points behind her armor. We got a better idea of how strong Kyoshi armor is in the novels; it is chainmail lining capable of stopping knives [22] and arrows [23] (The Rise of Kyoshi).
Ty Lee can take down people of great size and durability too, such as very muscular, large men [24] (Smoke and Shadow II) and an armored Azula [25] (Book 3: The Boiling Rock II).
Book 3: The Beach
She is so skilled in the martial art that she could strike down five guys in front of her, even using the instant-sleep strike she had used on Katara on the far-right guy, and using her foot to hit a pressure point for another, with her eyes closed.
Combat Feats.
The first of Ty Lee's showings I will talk about sources from The Drill, and involves the Terra Team, a platoon of elite earthbenders acting as the first line of Ba Sing Se's defence. There were too apparent units of the Terra Team, consisting of roughly two dozen plus soldiers each for a total of fifty earthbenders [26], which we see splitting up to attack Princess Azula's drill from two opposite sides. Mai and Ty Lee arrive from the left to attack the first wave, but Mai leaves to fight the right unit herself as soon as Ty Lee lands on the ground, so from thereon, the on-screen portion is a display of Ty Lee's prowess.
Ty Lee evades their ground-based attacks, dances around all their attempts and swiftly takes out every last one in groups with a smile. This is a very good showcase of the nature of the girls' win condition in this match-up; actually, the entire chapter of The Drill and how Team Avatar took out the machine is. Ty Lee is not as powerful as these earthbenders who can launch room sized earth pillars and throw giant tanks around like they're nothing, and the numbers were 50 to 1. However, realying on her agility, speed and precision, she treated them like children. Also, do keep in mind that, even though it was a warning shot from a great distance, the Terra Team was fast enough to defend against Mai's knives, so they're not slowpokes either, even if Ty Lee made them look that way.
Finally, I will break down a bit of Ty Lee's fight with Suki in The Boiling Rock II. This is, of course, part of a bigger battle as Zuko, Sokka, Suki and Hakoda try to escape the Boiling Rock Prison. Azula and Ty Lee intercept them on top of the gondola -- Ty Lee actually does so by running on a tight rope a few thousands of feet above boiling ocean water [27] -- and the latter takes on Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors. I mentioned her in the previous character section when I talked about Azula as a fighter.
The two are evenly matched in hand-to-hand combat for a while, Ty Lee coming close to getting her at some point using her agility to blindside her in the middle of the duel. A misconception I've seen is that Suki is the one constantly weaving through Suki's attempt to chi block her, thus proving the more efficient fighter. This is far from the truth however. Ty Lee is seen actively evading and blocking Suki's own strikes above, as soon the beginning, and even later on, when we see Suki trying kicks on the background as well. This is without mentioning that Ty Lee appears to have underestimated Suki in the start of the fight looking at their expressions. The fight gets interrupted after a while, but it remains evidence of Ty Lee's skill against a battle-tested warrior trained since she was eight years old; one extremely agile and strong at that [30] (Book 3: Sozin's Comet I: The Phoenix King). After the final chapter, Ty Lee also moved on to exchange fighting knowledge with Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, training them in chi blocking and adapting their own style of fighting inspired by Avatar Kyoshi, so she is an even better fighter as of now.
III. Teamwork.
Right off the bat, I want to admit that Mako and Bolin have mad teamwork; it is this that allowed them to face off against some very powerful masters, even successfully at times, like Unalaq and Ghazan. Frankly, they look cool when they fight together. Mai and Ty Lee might not have the sheer visual synergy, or the fancy double combos Mako and Bolin bring to the table, in no small part because they're really just ninja martial artists, not benders, but I'd argue their own teamwork complements their threat level best.
I'll link a scene we've already brought up in the above sections here; the fight with Katara and Sokka. This was a relatively easy fight and a quick win for them, but it's a good showcase of how they fight together nonetheless. First of all, how Mai and Ty Lee approach the fight is they split up and surround their opponents. This was also shown in the first encounter back in Omashu, and it remains consistent here. In this scene, we also see that Ty Lee and Mai can quickly switch matchups mid-fight in order to control the battle. Katara was doing her best to avoid Ty Lee's chi blocking and keep her at bay, and Sokka was ready to deal with Mai's spring shooters using his own weapons from a distance. So, in order for the girls to not waste any more time with them, Mai took on Katara and pinned her down before she could bend any water, and Ty Lee outmaneuvered Sokka up close. Now, I'm not saying that is necessarily how this fight would go, Mako and Bolin are very different opponents to Sokka and Katara -- but it's a nice example of how the girls go about a fight and how they can cover each other's bases without speaking a word if need be.
IV. The Battle: Opening Counters.
The way I see this fight going is simple, and I think the girls have more than one win condition. Starting on opposite ends of the field, Mai will open with a barrage of knives, like she did against the Terra Team unit. Bolin will be forced to raise an earth wall, and Mako can fire off a couple of blasts like they did against Unalaq, Eska and Desna outside the spirit portal. This, alone, will give the girls enough time to split up and come at the brothers from opposite directions. Mai's favorable matchup would be Mako; his firebending provides no defence against her projectiles, and Mai's shown she can deal with fire and lightningbending on more than occasion. Ty Lee's favorable matchup would be Bolin; her agility is ideal in dealing with earthbending, and his lavabending is a very slow form of bending -- which we'll get to below. From thereon, they can make short work of the brothers in a divide-and-conquer type of way.
In the possibility that Mai takes on Bolin and Ty Lee takes on Mako, there's two ways that can go; Mai could force Bolin on the defensive and take him out with a ricochet shot as Ty Lee closes in on Mako and chi blocks him, or they'd swap matchups in order to make it easier for them. In any case, I think the girls will come out on top.
Bolin wouldn't go for the kill instantly as it would be out of character for Bolin. So personally, he wouldn't use Lavabending right off the bat. Same thing with Mako using Lightningbending. Mako uses Lightningbending as a last resort, just in case his Firebending isn't enough to finish the opponent. Even if Bolin doesn't go for the kill immediately (which he probably won't) he can use lava to restrict Ty Lee's and Mai's movement, forcing the female duo into certain areas, etc. Since, the battle starts at 60 ft apart, I can see Bolin and Mako taking the advantage in long rang combat. I don't see how the brothers lose to her. They will know she is only dangerous up close and keep her away from them. And Bolin has just the thing to do that in the form of lava bending. And based on the location, this will give Bolin the environmental advantage to bend more lava and earth.
Well, their morals are off here, so they wouldn't necessarily hold back, but I see what you're saying. In any case, the fact that you're pointing out that they won't immediately go for their strongest tools in character is an immediate mindset advantage for the girls. Mai and Ty Lee won't go in playing games. Using lavabending, Bolin could try to restrict the girls' movements, and that works in theory, but it's really unlikely to happen in practice.
You did show his most impressive -- as in, his "speedier" -- lavabending feats, which he performed as a fugitive against soldiers of the Earth Empire, but even they are consistent with the fact that lavabending, while lethal and very powerful, is also naturally the slowest form of bending there is. In order to do this, Bolin needed to gain momentum, launch himself upward with a pillar and land on the ground with a front flip before letting out enough strength to launch a wave of lava of this size, at this range. Earthbenders often do that to gain momentum, the harder they strike their limbs against the ground, the greater the force behind the earth they raise out of it -- this is no different. This one is better, but it's still not fast enough. There's a very noticeable speed gap between the two sides here, on every category. For now, it will suffice to say that Ty Lee would cross the 60 feet and be on Bolin's face within no more than 2 seconds. Lavabending is also far from undodgeable -- even targets as big and slow as mecha-tanks can dodge these waves of lava and close in. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a strke against Bolin given how advanced Kuvira's mecha tanks were, but it is still evidence that someone like Ty Lee would not have a hard time getting around these attacks.
Simply take the bit where Ty Lee evades Katara's wave and closes in on her and nothing really changes. She could somersault away from any lavabending attempt and use the trees and hills all around the environment to stay out of Bolin's reach.
Another thing is that if the duo manage to hit them at close range, Bolin would be able to trap them like what he did to these Earthbending soldiers at near high speeds and it would be checkmate.
These soldiers were running away and Bolin got them from behind, and Mai and Ty Lee are also miles faster than these guys. They've both dealt with earthbending before (and yeah, the animation speed and quality of Korra is demonstrably higher, but this should not be held against fighters of the original series). The projectile here is no different than a usual earth projectile would be too, but it quickly trapped the soldiers on the wall in front of them as soon as Bolin launched it, so it appears deceptively fast. This last point is important; this is not an earth projectile that automatically wraps itself aroud the target or chases them or something, it's just two rock barriers pushed against a pre-existing surface. Neither of the girls should have a problem simply jumping over moves like that.
A less straightforward approach could involve environmental attacks from below, but even that would require actually landing a successful hit on Ty Lee, and even then, she's shown she can gracefully recover from such attempts as a result of her agility and balance: [29] (Book 2: The Crossroads of Destiny).
Even if Mai has the ability to throw at a long range, Bolin can easily dodge and block most of the daggers.
Bolin would definitely not be able to dodge anything thrown by Mai. Really it might as well be Bullseye targetting the Hulk. Bolin would immediately have to go on the defensive to save both himself and Mako, who cannot solidify his flames to actually stop Mai's projectiles either. Stopping an initial attack from Mai would give her and Ty Lee enough time to go on the offensive -- which is how they always control the fights they're in -- meaning enough time for Ty Lee to close in on Bolin and enough time for Mai to get closer to Mako. Now, we've established that Mai's knives are at least twice as fast as conventional firebending, and Mai is a ridiculous shot that can land pinpoint shots on groups of moving targets simultaneously, and land successful shots on fighters as fast and capable as Azula. She is also faster on the draw than Mako and can rapid fire her knives, so there isn't something he can actually do if he's stuck with her.
Since the battle starts at 60ft apart, Bolin would have no problem breaking Mai's daggers because he has the ability to utilize lava into a lava shuriken. It was so hot that it was able to cut metal blades. So personally, Mai's daggers won't land a hit.
Bolin needs quite a few seconds to actually build a lava shuriken. He's not going to be able to pull that off mid-fight against these opponents. And even if he did, he wouldn't be able to defend against Mai's daggers like that -- he plain isn't fast enough to do it, nor has he shown the dexterity necessary with his bending.
For Mako, if his Firebending doesn't reach them at a far distance, he has the option to use Lightning bending to stun one of the Female duo at a long range distance.
Well, you did say that Mako would not open with lightning, but in any case, Mai was fast enough to sidestep Azula's quick-charged lightning [30] (Smoke and Shadow III), so it should be of no difference with Mako. If it packs more of a blow, she can leap or flip away from it like Amon did, but Mako's usual bolts don't cause much of an explosion in most cases. Ty Lee would basically be untouchable to either of the brothers the moment she starts moving all over the place.
Personally, Mako and Bolin have great Teamwork advantage. Again, They were able to overwhelm Ghazan, fought and hold off against Base Unalaq, and Most of the Dai li' simultaneously. So I think they would be given the advantage here.
I don't feel like the girls would have any issues taking down Unalaq, Ghazan or three Dai Li agents, to be frank. Now, we agree that the brothers would go down as soon as this went into close quarters, so I'll leave it at that and revisit my central points;
Mai and Ty Lee will be on the offensive from the get-go, giving them control of the matchups here. Ty Lee should have no issues closing in on Bolin and Mai should have no issues pinning down and/or killing Mako in separate duels. They really just cannot stop them from taking them out with raw speed, skill and precision.
In the case that Mai takes on Bolin and Ty Lee takes on Mako, things would not be quite as easy, but manageable nonetheless. None of Mako's attacks are going to land against Ty Lee before she closes in and chi blocks him, and Mai has ways to get behind Bolin's defences: ricochet shots, or pressing him with a constant ranged offensive until she closes in -- which as I showed in her fight in The Boiling Rock II, she can do so extremely quick -- and takes him out from a distance in which he wouldn't even be able to defend against her shots in time. The girls should be capable of swapping matchups if they feel so too.
Given the knowledge we have on the brothers, and the fact that, even character-wise, Mai and Mako and Ty Lee and Bolin fit each other more, the ideal matchups of the first case are most likely to happen the majority of the time, so I expect the discussion to focus on those ones moving forward. I have more things I want to either bring up or elaborate on that I haven't, but I think this is enough for introduction and an opening statement.
@mrblackdragon: Bump. I know you've not been quite active recently -- if you don't feel like continuing someone else has expressed interest already, but I wanted to run this by you first.
@mrblackdragon: Bump. I know you've not been quite active recently -- if you don't feel like continuing someone else has expressed interest already, but I wanted to run this by you first.
Umm... Yeah, I'm sorry but I don't think I will continue as I got a lot of schoolwork and practice exams to do; so I don't think I have the time to finish it. Sorry for that Sir. ANTHP2000 :( .
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